Acoustic emission inspection of welding defects in the weld seam cooling process

Acoustic-emission inspection of defects in the welded seam of St3 steel plate has been conducted. Acoustic-emission information was registered both in the process of welding and during the weld seam cooling. Seven samples were studied, some of them had artificial defects. They were simulated by means of titanium and aluminum inserts in the weld. Clustering of the registered AE signals was performed in order to obtain more accurate location. The obtained location pattern corresponded to the defect location areas. Analysis of amplitude, energy and total count distribution showed that the presence of inserts leads to their significant increase. A technique for weld control in the process of its cooling has been developed.